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September 23, 2013

As more and more of our friends are promoted to parents, I am also kind of being promoted to become an advisor among the mommies. Midnight chats and SOS calls to help them through their bf journey and maternity rest is also a type of fun and I really enjoy lending a hand~

At this modern age where almost every mommy is going into the labour room with iPhone/Samsung in their hand, you should actually explore further on the available apps which can help you in baby's first year. Especially during your maternity rest, you will find yourself having memory shortage and very stressed out for having to remember the feeding and diaper changing frequency.

I was glad that I took some time to explore the related apps during my first week of maternity rest and discovered a few! After few days of trial, I decided to stick to this - My Baby & Me by Philips AVENT.

This apps enables you to track the following items and put into statistics and save the data.

Then you can always check back your baby's last feeding/sleeping/diaper change. Very helpful for new mommies in scheduling the sessions even if you are alone with limited support during the second month of your maternity rest.

Besides this, you can also keep track of your baby's special moments by sequence. Keeping record of your baby's milestones is very heartwarming. You may share it with your friends and family later on.

Furthermore there are also tips and advice for first time mommies to refer to, from pregnancy to baby's 1+ year, e.g. pregnancy diet, returning to work, and establishing baby's routine, etc...

Another series of apps that I had started using since pregnancy are What To Expect | Pregnancy & Baby and What To Expect Baby Tracker. I found this What To Expect | Pregnancy & Baby apps very helpful throughout my pregnancy, and it cleared most of my doubts week by week. For new fathers who are lazy to flip through books on pregnancy, they will like this apps as it provides concise summary on weekly basis about baby's development and changes on the mother. Understand and provide good support to the new mommy is very important, it will create a good start of family bonding before childbirth.

As for What To Expect Baby Tracker apps, there are guidelines to month-by-month development of the baby, so you may read ahead what is predicted next in his/her milestone so that you'll not be too surprised on the changes.

Another interesting feature that is available in this apps is the Feeding. This is quite useful for new mommies in the first month to monitor the baby's feeding trend. You can even time your feeding by breast! Haha~

These are my personal experience and preference, you might find a lot more similar apps and maybe you will discover other apps which are even more powerful and user friendly.

So mommies, what are you still waiting for? Grab the apps and try out today. And don't forget to share if you find new tools too!

After 8 months of breastfeeding, it eventually comes to a time when the supply is fluctuating (roller coaster emotion and high working pressure for an engineer mom like me). So now I am eagerly seeking for milk boosters to continue breastfeed until baby turns 1 years old.

My daily supplements still continue as normal, only that I consume more milk boosters ever since I started working - including food that I barely take if I have a choice not to -- fish and prawns! Now they have become my priority choice in the list.

Common food to avoid and the allergy/intolerance in babies:
1. Spicy foods - cinnamon, onions, chili and peppers may upset an infant's stomach, causing abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting
2. Citrus fruits - pineapple, oranges, lemons and other citrus fruits could give the baby an upset stomach or even a rash
3. Some vegetables - cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers and broccoli and beans may give the baby gas
4. Dairy - some babies can develop colic if you are eating too much dairy products, so avoid consuming large amounts of dairy
5. Mercury-containing fish - king mackerel, swordfish, tilefish and shark contain high levels of mercury that could be harmful to the baby
6. Caffeine - should be limited to small amounts so as to not disturb the baby's sleep pattern, causing nervousness and irritability
7. Alcohol - limit the intake and allow enough time ~2hrs for the alcohol to get out of their system before breastfeeding
8. Chocolate - contains caffeine and may make a baby gassy
9. Peanuts - babymay develop a peanut allergy but no conclusive evidence, so need monitoring
10. Saturated fats and trans-fats - saturated and trans-fats can reduce the production of omega 3s, which are critical for proper infant growth and development
11. Pesticides - many varieties of produce could have pesticides or insecticides on them, so wash them thoroughly or peel them before eating, or opt for organic produce instead

2 days ago I tried making a lactation juice of beetroot + carrot + lemon. Learned it from somewhere but I've forgotten the website link..

So here's my recipe:
Add 1/2 beetroot + 1 carrot + 1/2 lemon into the blender then blend till smooth.
The taste is quite sour but overall it was good.
Not sure how much it helped but my aim is to be able to maintain supply even during high tension at work, and I guess it did work the next morning.

My self made lactation juice. Focus on the juice and ignore the winery flute.

Willy's simply has thumbs up buffet breakfast~ Seriously it was worthwhile with the price I paid for the accommodation at Willy's. And a great view of the famous Willy's Rock too!.

The famous Willy's Rock

I was addicted to Longganisa after tasted the first one at the buffet breakfast.

Longganisa!!

Longganisa refers to sausages flavoured with indigenous spices, with each region having its own specialty. Filipino longganisa can also be made of chicken, beef, or even tuna. - From Wikipedia

As an outgoer who loves sea sand sun, it was the first time I was restricted to only hiding under shades and feet off from the sea...

Okay my restricted area was only on the sand under shades...

The famous Willy's Rock, that symbolizes Boracay. It is right in front of our hotel. Isn't it great?! People purposely walk all the way here to snap a picture but we just needed to walk a few steps from the hotel area across the beach. Perhaps only a 100m.

A bit disappointed on the seawater today... Not the blue that I expected...

Panaromic view

Boracay locals are experts in building sand castles. You can always find several within a stone's throw distance. However if you want to snap photo, they will run to you and trying to collect money for a photo. The tourism police always patrol along the beaches to destroy these sand sculptures to stop the locals from bugging the tourists.

Lucky to snap one from afar

At first I was reluctant to go for island hopping because it might be a long hot day out and I need to watch out my bump. Flexibility and comfort was all I needed throughout the trip. Somehow if we did not go out to enjoy the sea, it would be meaningless to come thus far to see the blue.... So hubby chartered the whole boat and off we went out to the sea! So everything was done per my preference, he enjoyed his swim snorkeling, while I enjoyed the sea breeze in the boat.

Crystal clear

Some underwater world pictures. Thanks to our Sony TX10.

Since the boat is chartered, we just spent our own sweet time for the island hopping. Erm...beach hopping actually. We went to almost all the beaches.

Parasailing

Local fishermen heading out for fishing

Sea cave.

Baby bump hehe~

Then we decided to stop by at Ilig Illigan Beach for a break. Ilig Iligan is a little beach, not many people here, seems like a good hideaway. There are only two small resorts, a local karaoke bar, and a

small restaurant on the beach.

San Miguel beer under the hot sun? I could only have some fruit shakes...

You can have a small seafood feast here at the restaurant by the beach.

Cock fighting is also very popular in Philippines. It's the men's favorite past time.

A small seashell museum?

Crystal clear water and a good spot for swimming and snorkeling.

Look! A sunbow~

We spent the whole morning out in the sea and spotting a few beaches around Boracay Island.

My beach boy suntanning.

More resorts spotted.

Shangri-La's Boracay Resort and Spa at Barangay, Yapak.

More resorts spotted at Diniwid Beach.

Boracay West Cove Resort. It has is the first and only organic architecture in the Philippines.

It uses non-disruptive technology in order to preserve the beauty of its environment.

After the beach hopping, finally it's time for some good food! Local delights of course. D'Mall is located at Station 2, about 10 minutes walk from our hotel at Station 1. Somehow walking along the White Beach is quite happening and you get to see a lot of hotels, restaurants and even shops, so 10 minutes is really nothing, even to an expecting mother like me.

The first restaurant that caught our attraction was Mang Inasal. Mang Inasal is a barbecue fast food restaurant chain in the Philippines specializing in grilled chicken.

Paa with rice. Paa means leg, grilled well and so easy to cut!

Dinuguan. Pork is cooked in pig’s blood. It is served with puto which is steamed rice cakes.

It tastes more like Philippine version of "pork leg vinegar".

My Boracay trip was more like a culinary trip hehe~

And we were in love with the local delicacies!!

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for some rest. Holiday should be like eat...sleep...eat...sleep...

It started to rain as soon as we reached our room. So I had a hot shower then dozed off before even had my dessert bought from Budget Mart (the only convenience store) at D'Mall.

Can you see my baby bump?

Okay, this is Willy's Beach Club Hotel overview. Facing the famous Willy's Rock.

It was evening again and I was ready for food hunting haha. Well, seemed like the nausea that I had all time before this vacation was totally gone?! I really enjoyed eating in these 5 days.

Ready to go. I had a list of "want-to-eat".

Fridays Boracay, another AAA resort.

Along the White Beach you will bump into many of this BBQ stalls. Of course we couldn't resist. For people who doesn't eat intestines, it's a waste!

OMG!! So many choices. Price range from 10-40PHP only!!

Decided to try these as snacks before going for a proper dinner - pig and chicken intestines.

Only 10PHP (~RM0.70) per stick!!

Dinner was at Mañana Mexican Cuisine. It's located at Station 1 on the way to D'Mall (Station 2). I'm a fan of Mexican cuisine and we decided to dine there as I craved for Nachos with the dips.

Totopos (125PHP). Homemade tortilla chips that comes with four types of dips to suit each ones taste.

Along White Beach you can actually find a lot of seafood stalls/restaurants/BBQ. The lobsters are cheap! You even get to have seafood buffet by the beach around Station 2. We did not go to D'Talipapa for seafood but we had it at one of the seafood buffet stalls at Station 2 on Day 3.

Lobsters!!

Affordable seafood buffet~

Affordable seafood buffet~

Boracay Mandarin Resort. One of the leading resorts in Station 2.

Another premier resort. Boracay Regency Beach Resort.

It has hundreds of guest rooms and 3 main pools... I guess I'm gonna stay here the next visit.

Lemon-i Cafe was in my "must eat" list. You know, normally expecting mothers crave for sour food and desserts. I could enjoy both here.

The cafe exterior.

The cafe interior.

Ice lemonade and lemon cheese cake.

Happy babymoon~

Good night baby!

On our way back to hotel, we saw the locals selling Balot and some deep fried pork skin.

Have you ever tried Balot? You may have a closer look of it in my previous post in Siem Reap. I still think it's way too disgusting and even hubby couldn't accept it...